TOKYO – Debuting in a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome against the top-ranked nation in the world, Europe recorded its historic first victory for the continent, defeating Japan 6-2 to split the two-game series.

Like in Game 1, Europe managed to get out of the gates early, tagging Samurai starter Takahiro Matsuba for back-to-back doubles in the second inning, authored by Italy’s Mario Chiarini and Spain’s Blake Ochoa, which put Europe up 2-0.

A towering three-run home run by the Netherlands’ Yurendell Decaster in the bottom of the third gave Europe a 5-0 lead. (VIDEO: Decaster HR)

With the cushion, Europe starter Diegomar Marwell (Netherlands) kept Japan’s bats quiet through three innings, only allowing three hits.

In the 5th, Tetsuto Yamada launched a solo home run and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo’s RBI single cut Europe’s lead to 5-2.

Dutch flamethrower Tom Stuifbergen pitched the final inning, using a 95 mph/153 kmh fastball close out the game and register the save for Europe.

Sommer was credited with the win. Japan starter Matsuba took the loss.

The historic win for Europe follows the announcement by baseball’s world governing body, WBSC, to establish Team Europe. Europe was immediately pitted against the world No. 1 Japanese National Team, “Samurai Japan”, made up of top stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The majority of players on Japan’s current roster were part of the Samurai selection that faced Team MLB in a best-of-five series, won by hosts Japan, last November.

Both WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari and NPB Commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki went down on the field Wednesday night to congratulate the European team, following their 6-2 win and two exciting contests in as many nights.

“These two highly competitive games send another message to the world that Europe can compete with anyone and that our sport is more global than ever,” President Fraccari said.

Two European countries, No. 5 Netherlands and No. 11 Italy, are among the elite field heading to the inaugural Premier 12™ that will unite baseball’s top twelve countries.

Samurai Japan manager Hiroki Kokubo said, “We have to give them credit. They’ve come a long way and played the game at a high level.”

No. 36 Belgium and No. 39 Austria were also represented as part of Europe’s coaching staff.

Yokohama BayStars rising star Tsutsugo, 23, was one of the bright spots for the Samurai in the series, collecting a pair of hits and RBIs. “I would like come up with positive results during the [NPB] season [that are] worthy of a Samurai Japan member,” he said.

Over 44,000 people attended the historic matches, with an increase in attendance of approximately 2,000 more fans for Game 2, following Samurai Japan’s thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory in Game 1 Tuesday night.

The two-game series was broadcast free-to-air nationally across Japan by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), while Eurosport 2 transmitted the games live to potentially 73 million households across more than 50 European nations.

Prior to the start of Game 2 there was a moment of silence to honor the victims and raise awareness of ongoing recovery efforts four years after the 11 March 2011 Tsunami devastated the Fukushima region.

NPB — the second highest-attended major sports league in the world in 2014 (approx. 23 million) and WBSC Associate Member — hosted the Europe versus Japan two-game series.

Umpires from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; WBSC Associate Member) officiated the two games.

Leading sports performance brand Asics backed Europe as the official kit sponsor.

In the two-game series, Japan outhit Europe 16 to 13. Japan played spotless defense with the glove, committing no errors on defense. Europe also flashed the leather, executing a pickoff and making only one error on defense.

The Global Baseball Match between the Samurai Japan and the All-Euro team is approaching quickly. The two teams will meet next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Tokyo Dome for a pair of games.

Team Europe arrived in Japan yesterday and has announced its schedule. And there is news coming out now from the Japan squad as well as they have announced their starting pitchers for the two games.

Starting in Game 1 will be Daichi Osera of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Osera, a 23-year old right hander, won the 2014 Rookie of the Year Award this past season posting a 10-8 record with a 4.05 ERA.

Pitching Game 2 will be the Orix Buffaloes Takahiro Matsuba. He went 8-1 in 2014 in 21 starts. He posted an ERA of just 2.77 in his second year in the league.

Schedule courtesy IBAF.org

Friday, 6 March: Visit To Fukushima – Four Years Later

Following the team workout session Friday, members of Team Europe will visit the Fukushima region that was devastated on 11 March 2011. The area is still in the process of recovery from the disaster, and the visit is intended to pay tribute and raise awareness of the region’s ongoing recovery efforts.

Saturday, 7 March: Baseball Clinic with School Children

School children will join the team and have the opportunity to play ball and engage with the European players in a one-hour session after Europe’s official team practice.

Sunday, 8 March: Test match vs. Yomiuri Giants minor league team

On Sunday, Team Europe will play a friendly match versus the minor league affiliate of the Yomiuri Giants. Europe’s coaching staff will get its first opportunity to evaluate the team and get in some ‘live’ game experience.

Monday, 9 March: Practice Session And Press Conference

Team Europe’s final workout will take place at QVC Stadium.

Representatives from both Samurai Japan and Team Europe will attend a press conference at QVC Stadium. The time of the press conference is scheduled for 13:00 – 13:30local time.

Tuesday, 10 March: Europe vs Japan Game 1 – 18:00

Europe will make its debut on the international stage as the visiting team, wearing their road grey jersey.

Photo shoots for both Europe and Japan will also be organized at the Tokyo Dome prior to pre-game batting practice.

Wednesday, 11 March: Europe vs Japan Game 2 – 18:00

Europe will play its first-ever game as the home team, sporting the white jersey. A special Opening Ceremony will be held prior to Game 2 at 17:25.

Broadcast Coverage

Both games of the historic Europe vs Japan Series will be broadcast ‘live’ in Europe via Eurosport 2, in addition to national coverage in Japan.

The All-Euro team for the upcoming Global Baseball Match versus Japan has revealed both its logo and jersey.

A team of Europeans will take on some of the best from Japan in a two game series in March at the Tokyo Dome. The games will be held March 10 and 11.

The jersey, pictured below, will feature the home flag of each player’s home country on the right shoulder. Seven flags will be featured between the players and coaches representing Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

It is comprised of players from five different European countries and led by a manager from a sixth. The Netherlands, 2011 World Champions, have the most players represented with fifteen. Included is 10-time Major League Baseball Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones.

Jones joins fellow NPB player Alessandro Maestri on the roster. Maestri was the first European raised player to make it to the NPB. He currently pitches for the Oriz Buffaloes where he had a solid season last year.

The teams were announced for the 2015 Buchbinder Cup. The sixth edition of the tournament to take place in Regensburg will include the host Legionaere and two other German Bundesliga teams. Accepting an invitation from Germany are the Paderborn Untouchables and the Bonn Capitals. Also accepting an invitation from the Czech Extraleague are the Arrows Ostrava.

The tournament will take place between May 23-25 at Armin Wolf Arena in Regensburg.

In the 2014 edition of the tournament, the Untouchables lost out to the Heidenheim Heideköpfe in an exciting championship game 15-14.

The German Bundesliga has been dominated by the Regensburg Legionaere have dominated for the past six seasons winning five titles in that span including the past four. However, there will be a new defending champion for the 2015 season as the Solingen Alligators picked up their second title.

Solingen is no stranger to winning having been the champions of the North Division six times in the past eight years. However, other than 2006 they have fallen short in their quest for a championship. This year was different as once again the Alligators were North Division champions with a record of 21-3.

Solingen took care of the Haar Disciples in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs winning the series 3-1. The semifinal round found the Alligators facing off with the four-time defending champion Legionaere in a rematch of the 2013 Finals. Only this time it would be a different result as the Alligators defeated the defending champs 3-1 to win the series and advance once again to the finals. This time they would face off with the Heidenheim Heidekopfe who had the leagues best record at 25-3 winning the South Division.

The finals would be an exciting match up. The first two games were an indication of that as the teams split wins in very different fashion. Solingen took Game 1 with a 12th inning walk-off home run by Tanner Leighton to win 2-1. However Heidenheim would come right back to win 9-0 in Game 2 to even up the best-of-five series.

The series then moved to Heidenheim where once again the Alligators would not only win a series 3-1 but again they won back-to-back games with 2-1 scores. Harry Glynne was named the series MVP after giving up just two runs over sixteen innings of work. Sascha Lutz picked up the award for best hitter and Tyler Lockwood for best pitcher.

The Alligators will begin their 2015 defense on April 4th as the league is scheduled to kick off that weekend. The Dohren Wild Farmers will be replaced by the Hannover Regents for the upcoming season. The league will once again feature 15 total teams.

In other news around the league, a new executive board was elected. Mirko Heid (Bonn) will serve as the new president taking over for Michael Hartmann. New to the board are also Philipp Hoffschild (Regensburg), Lena Foerst (Hamburg), Christopher Goulet (Paderborn), and Stefan Hoffmann (Darmstadt). They will join the lone returning member in Juergen Elsishans (Mannheim). Completing the board is Gunnar Schaefer (Magdeburg) who represents the DBV Youth Organization.

With 2014 coming to a close, we thought this would be a good time to look back at the world of baseball and discuss some of the major events and championships that took place. Over the next week or two we will be recapping all of the major leagues from around the world. So in case you missed it, and we did as well for some because of how busy 2014 was, stay tuned and check out what happened around the world.

In 2015 we hope to bring a few more things to the site including more writing on independent baseball leagues throughout the USA. These leagues have garnered my attention more and more over the past few years. They not only interest me in the ways they handle themselves on the field (see article on Pecos League commissioner charging field with chair) but off the field and how the leagues actually survive is very interesting to say the least.

In addition to covering some of the independent leagues, we hope to bring you some new and interesting ideas like the top independent managing prospects. With managers being picked up from independent leagues into affiliated ball, we thought we would look at a few of the manager prospects in the game right now. So stay tuned for that and other new ideas on independent ball.

In addition we plan to bring you more reviews on books, documentaries, movies, and other sites as well. We are apart of a huge baseball blogosphere and we want to help spread some of the great writing that is going on. For one, Dan Glickman over at the Hall of Very Good wrote about the best baseball links of 2014. There is a lot of great writing here from some of the top writers in the sport. I have read many of the articles throughout the year but some of the I missed so I will be going back through them in the next week and I recommend you do the same.

I dropped the ball in 2014 due to my schedule becoming so crazy but most of that is behind me now and I hope to continue bringing you updates from around the world in 2015.

I would also like to have your opinions and ideas on what you would like to see. I have tossed around the idea of a podcast with others joining me to discuss baseball from around the world. I’ve also tossed around the idea of starting a vlog and doing some video. Those are on hold right now until I can get back into the swing of regular updates. I am putting together a schedule of when I will update what leagues in order to bring some regularity to the site and hopefully more interaction with you the readers.

With all of that being said, Happy New Year! Here is hoping your favorite teams continue, or start, a winning tradition in 2015!

The Solingen Alligators and the Heidenheim Heidekopfe still lead their respective divisions in the German Bundesliga. The Alligators are dominating the North Division with a 19-1 record leading by a full five games over the two teams tied for second. Heidenheim’s lead is not quite as big as they lead the Regensburg Leagionaere by only two games.

Solingen is on a seventeen game winning streak. Their last loss came in game three of the season to the Cologne Cardinals 12-10. With four games left in the season they finish with two games against fourth place HSV Stealers and then two games with current second place Paderborn Untouchables.

In the South, Heidenheim has four games left with the two teams currently in seventh and eighth place in the standings setting up what could be an easy road to the number one seed in the South.

With only about six weeks to play in the German Bundesliga, the Solingen Alligators are dominating the competition in the North Division. The Alligators lead the North with a record of 15-1, with the only loss coming to the Paderborn Untouchables 4 to 3. Since the loss the Alligators have run off seven straight wins including a sweep of second place Bonn a few weeks ago.

The Alligators are led offensively by Tanner Leighton who leads the team in HR (5), RBI (20), runs (18), hits (25), doubles (7), and average (.455). Moritz Buttgereit (.411/.479/.554), Markus Stryczek (.324/.468/.595), and Dustin Hughes (.351/.433/.544) have all added a pair of home runs for the first place Alligators.

On the hill Chris Mezger has dominated the competition as the Alligators ace. He has tossed 51.0 innings striking out 79 and only walking 7 en route to a 7-0 record with an ERA of just 0.529. Andre Hughes has pitched well out of the pen picking up a win and two saves.

In the South Division a new name is atop the standings as the Heidenheim Heidekopfe are leading with a record of 15-3. They sit just ahead of powerhouse Regensburg who is 15-5.

Heidenheim has an eight game winning streak going right now that included a weekend sweep of rival Regensburg.

James McOwen leads the Heidenheim offense so far hitting at a clip of .400/.451/.680. He has clubbed four home runs and nine doubles to lead the team. Andrew Smith is also off to a hot start. Smith is hitting a team leading .470. Power has come throughout the line up so far with Luke Sommer (3), Smith (2), Jay Pecci (2), Robert Gruber (2), and Simon Guhring (2) all hitting more than one home run.

On the hill Sommer has been solid so far as well. He has pitched in five games, won three, saved one, and has an ERA of just 0.885 in 20.1 innings pitched. Tyler Lockwood has been solid as well going 7-0 while logging 58.2 innings for Heidenheim.

The first two weekends of the German Bundesliga are in the books and only two teams remain undefeated. In the North the Solingen Alligators are leading the way once again after defeating both the Bonn Capitals and the Cologne Cardinals over the past two weekends.

In the South, Regensburg is undefeated after crushing the Bad Homburg Hornets in a two game set this past weekend. The Legionaere are looking to once again finish atop the league where they have finished the past four years.

This upcoming weekend the North leading Solingen Alligators will take on the Dohren Wild Farmers who currently sit in second place. Dohren has a chance to make a statement and take over the lead in the division with a sweep of the Alligators.

The Wild Farmers are led offensively by Garrett Rogers who is leading the team with two home runs. Jason Mahood has been solid at the plate as well leading the team with a .357 average and six RBI. On the mound they are led by Jannis Wedemeyer and his 1.80 ERA. They will all need to come strong this weekend versus a solid Alligators squad.

The Alligators Tanner Leighton (.533/2 HR / 6 RBI) and Dustin Hughes (.571/ 1 HR/ 6 RBI) are leading the way offensively. They are strong offensively and on the hill. Christopher Mezger (2-0/ 1.20 ERA) and Harry Glynne (2-0/ 2.077 ERA) lead a strong pitching staff.

I get emails all the time from players wanting to find ways to get into baseball overseas. While I have made a few contacts over the years with different teams and organizations, I have not put in the time and effort needed to really build those relationships into helping teams find players, mainly because I don’t have the time. However, a friend of the sites, David Burns, has done just that.

Burns is a Canadian who has been living, working, and playing in Austria for a decade now. A year or so ago Burns started a website called Baseball Jobs Overseas where he helps put players with teams who are looking to fill out their rosters.

So a year or so ago when James Milo sent me an email hoping to find a place for his son to play in Europe, I sent him over to Burns. Luckily for everyone involved it worked out well. James’ son Dominic wound up finding a place in Germany playing with the Dohren Wild Farmers this past season where he put up good numbers in the Bundesliga North Division.

James and his wife were fortunate to make a visit to Germany over the summer to visit their son and watch him play ball. Recently James wrote an article for David Burns over at Baseball Jobs Overseas to give a parents perspective, and I thought I would post a link here because it is such a good read.

I would recommend reading it for anyone who is looking to play ball overseas. It gives some good insights on the process and overall is just a good read.

And if you are a player looking to find a place to play next summer, check out the site and join the forum where you can find more information. David Burns has also started a nice podcasts where he has some good guests talking about baseball overseas, how to find a job, and what to expect when you do.

The Solingen Alligators are back in the championship series after a six year absence. The Alligators are looking to repeat what they did in 2006 when they won their only title despite having won their division six out of the past eight years.

In what turned out to be an exciting series, the Solingen Alligators defeated the Heidenheim Heidekopfe three games to one in the five game semifinal.

Game 1 saw Heidenheim pick up the win behind great pitching. Martin Dewald started the game and pitched four innings allowing just one unearned run while striking out seven. Luke Sommer then came in to finish it off. He pitched the final five innings without allowing a run and earning the win for Heidenheim. Sommer also provided some offense going 2-for-4 with a solo home run

The score was the same in Game 2, 3-1, but the outcome was different. This time the Alligators Nick Renault pitched a complete game allowing just one unearned run on six hits. He struck out nine to earn the win and even the series at one.

Dustin Hughes had a good game in the nine hole for Solingen. He went 2-for-4 driving in two of the three runs for the Alligators.

After a nice Game 1 start despite taking the loss, Andre Hughes came back in Game 3 and pitched a gem. He went the distance giving up just two unearned runs on seven hits to give Solingen a 2-1 lead in the series.

The Alligators got an immediate boost from the return of Kai Gronauer who returned to Germany after his season was over in the US. Gronauer played the 2013 season with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. Gronauer homered in his return driving in a pair of runs.

Needing just one more win to clinch their spot in the finals, Nick Renault once again pitched a great game to clinch the series. Renault went the distance allowing just one run on seven hits. Jack Frawley pitched well for Heidenheim, but lost in the pitchers duel.

Kai Gronauer once again had a nice game going 2-for-3. Dustin Hughes (2-for-4) got the scoring started in the first inning with a RBI single.

Heidenheim tied it in the third on a Jay Pecci single, but Solingen would come through once more.

In the sixth inning tied at one, Gronauer started the inning off with a single. Hughes followed up with a single of his own. After a fielder’s choice that had Gronauer out at third, Dominik Wulf singled to center driving in Hughes with the eventual winning run.

Renault shut down the Heidekopfe bats the rest of the way clinching the series for the Alligators.

The German Baseball League Championship Series is set after a pair of teams clinched their births over the weekend. The Buchbinder Legionaere are back in the finals after defeating the Bonn Capitals in the semifinal round. They are seeking their fourth title in a row and fifth in six years.

The Buchbinder Legionaere downed the Bonn Capitals in the semifinal winning the series three games to one.

The Legionaere took Game 1 behind a strong performance from starter Mike Bolsenbroek who pitched a complete game shutout. Bolsenbroek gave up just five hits while striking out 13.

In Game 2, the Legionaere exploded for six runs in the eighth inning to pull out an 11-6 victory. Matthew Vance had a huge game at the plate going 3-for-5. He homered in the eighth inning to tie the game at five. He also tripled, scored twice, and drove in three runs. Philipp Howard also had a nice game going 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored.

Bonn came back to pick up a win and extend the series a bit in Game 3. The Capitals were down 4-0 before slowly making a comeback. They capped it off with two runs in the eighth to take the lead and the win.

Philipp Spade (2-for-3) and Bradley Roper-Hubbert (2-for-4) hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the fifth to get the Capitals on the board.

Needing just one more win to clinch to series, the Legionaere broke out the bats in Game 4 clinching with a 13-6 win. They jumped out quickly with four runs in both the first and third innings to lead 8-0 early.

Evan John Le Blanc (3-for-5) hit a two-run home run. Every starter except one scored at least one run.

The top four teams in the German Baseball League regular season have advanced to the semifinals. The #1 seed from the North Solingen Alligators will face off with the #2 seed from the South in Heidenheim Heidekopfe in one semifinal series. In the other series the #1 seed from the South Buchbinder Regensburg Legionaere will face off with the #2 seed from the North in the Bonn Capitals.

The Solingen Alligators defeated the Haar Disciples 3-to-1 in their first round series. Haar won the first game before Solingen came back to win three straight and advance.

Heidenheim swept through the Paderborn Untouchables in that first round series. The first two games of the series were close with Heidenheim winning 7-5 and 14-12.

Regensburg swept through the HSV Stealers over the past two weekends. They are looking to add another title to the shelf and will face off with Bonn in the next round.

The Bonn Capitals downed the Mainz Athletics in the first round. Bonn won a close game in Game 1 9-8 and then dropped the second game 7-1. They would split the next two games as well sending the series to a winner take all Game 5. Bonn would come out on top in that must win game 13-3.

The playoffs are set for the German Baseball League after the South Division finished up its schedule this past weekend.

In the South Division, the Regensburg Buchbinder Legionaere finished on top of the standings once again. Heidenheim, who has made a late charge at the division title, finished just a game out of first place.

The other two teams to make the playoffs out of the South Division are the Mainz Athletics and the Haar Disciples.

The teams will face the playoff teams from the North Division. The Solingen Alligators won the North Division followed up by the Bonn Capitals, Paderborn Untouchables, and the HSV Stealers.

The German Baseball League held its annual All-Star Game yesterday in Bonn. For the first time in its history the game was streamed online through Legionaere TV.

The festivities started off with the home run derby where 10 players competed for this years crown. The weather wasn’t the greatest for a home run derby with light rain off and on, but the players slugged on as Brent Buffa of the HSV Stealers was crowned 2013 Home Run Derby Champion after blasting five.

After the North Division was successful in bringing home the home run derby crown, they continued up with a nice win over the South in the All-Star Game. The North took an early 3-0 lead and went on to a 6-3 victory.

North starting pitcher Charles Olson, of the host Bonn Capitals, pitched great holding the South at bay during his time on the hill. He would go on to capture the the Best Pitcher Award.

Florian Nehring, Bonn Capitals, was named the MVP. While the South’s Chris Beck, Stuttgart Reds, was named the Best Hitter. Beck had a good day despite being on the losing end of things. He finished third in the home run derby. He then scored the first run for the South after a double and later would drive in a run.

The North held onto the lead despite a late inning rally from the South to win.

The North head coach Stefan Fechtig announced the players who will compete in the home run derby for the North.

The players to participate for the North are:

Brent Buffa (HSV Stealers – 4 HRs)

Daniel Lamb-Hunt (Bonn Capitals – 6 HRs)

Tanner Leighton (Solingen Alligators – 2 HRs)

Bradley Roper-Hubbert (Bonn Capitals – 9 HRs)

Björn Schonlau (Paderborn Untouchables – 5 HRs)

Björn Schonlau was the champion last year after he hit 11 total home runs. There are two rounds and the totals for each round are added together. The one with the most after the two rounds is the winner.

He will go up against the division leader in home runs, Bradley Roper-Hubbert who has nine on the season.

The home run derby will take place at 12:30 on August 18th in Bonn. It will be broadcast online via Legionaere TV.

The Regensburg Buchbinder Legionaere won the German Baseball South Division title over the weekend. With a sweep of the Stuttgart Reds, the Legionaere finished atop the South Division and will face off with the HSV Stealers in the first round of the playoffs starting on August 24.

There are a few games left in the South Division and they will finish up this coming weekend.

Game 1 saw the Legionaere dominate the Reds pitching staff. Lugwig Glaser (2-for-5) homered and scored three runs. Evan Le Blanc also had a big day. He homered, drove in five runs, and went 3-for-4. Philipp Howard added three hits as well. He doubled twice, tripled, scored four runs, and drove in three more.

Mike Bolsenbroek picked up the win pitching six innings. He gave up just one run on three hits.

Game 2 was much closer, but the Legionaere still came out on top. Lugwig Glaser went 3-for-5 and homered again to lead Regensburg to the win. Richard Klijn had a nice game at the plate. He went 2-for-4 with a double an a RBI.

The Legionaere followed up the sweep of the Reds with a sweep of the Tubingen Hawks on Sunday.

In other South Division action:

James McOwen homered, drove in three runs, and went 3-for-5 in the Game 1 win for Heidenheim.

Luke Sommer had a huge day in Game 1 for Heidenheim. He went 2-for-4 at the plate driving in three runs and picked up the win on the mound. He tossed six innings allowing just three hits while striking out eight.

Robert Gruber drove in four runs going 2-for-4 in Game 1 for Heidenheim.

James Kang homered in Game 2 for Heidenheim going 2-for-4.

Laureano De Los Santos pitched great for Tubingen in the first game. He pitched seven scoreless innings allowing four hits and striking out six.

Joshua Hodges picked up the win for Tubingen in the second game. He pitched a complete game, allowed one unearned run, gave up five hits, and struck out twelve.

Michael Coats went 3-for-4 scoring two runs for Tubingen in the second game.

Joshua Peterson homered for Haar in a Game 1 loss. He went 4-for-6 with four RBI. In Game 2, he went 3-for-5 with another four RBI.

The Solingen Alligators won the German Baseball League North Division over the past weekend. The Alligators took two games from the Berlin Sluggers without allowing a single run. After the sweep the Alligators will be the #1 seed heading into the playoffs and now await the end of the South Division schedule to see who they will face in the first round of the playoffs.

A day later, the Bonn Capitals, knowing they needed a sweep to finish in 2nd place, took two games from the Cologne Cardinals allowing only one run themselves. They finished a game ahead of the Paderborn Untouchables for the 2nd seed and now await the conclusion of the South Division schedule.

Dominik Wulf had a big day in Game 2 for Solingen. He went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Travis Bass (2-for-5), Sascha Steffens (2-for-3), and Julian Steinberg (2-for-5) all added a pair of hits.

Nick Renault had a great game. He picked up the win pitching 6.2 innings giving up just one hit while striking out eleven. At the plate he went 2-for-2 with a double

In other North Division action:

Eric Krzysiak homered, doubled, and drove in three runs going 3-for-4 in Game 1 for HSV. He went 2-for-5 in Game 2 scoring four runs.

Brehan Murphy also went 3-for-4 with three RBI for HSV in a Game 1 win over Dortmund. He doubled three times. He went 3-for-4 again in Game 2 with another two RBI.

Brent Buffa went 2-for-3 and pitched a complete game win for HSV in Game 1. He gave up one run on six hits while striking out eight. In Game 2, he homered, drove in four runs, and went 3-for-4.

Rene Herlitzius went 4-for-4 in the Game 2 loss for Dortmund.

Harry Glynne tossed a four hit shutout for Paderborn in Game 1. He struck out nine in seven innings.

Jendrick Spear went 3-for-4 driving in three runs and scored two more in Game 1 for Paderborn. He went 2-for-4 in Game 2.

Matt Martin scored three runs and went 2-for-4 for Paderborn in the first game. In the second, he tripled twice going 2-for-4.

Mathew Hewitt tossed a complete game four hitter for Paderborn in Game 2 of the weekend. He struck out four and walked three.

Florian Nehring homered twice, including a grand slam, in the first game for Bonn driving in five runs. Then he went 3-for-4 in the second game.

Bradley Roper-Hubbert also homered in Game 1 for Bonn going 2-for-4 with three RBI.

The Bonn Capitals have announced that in partnership with Legionaere TV from Regensburg, the 2013 German Baseball League All-Star Game will be broadcast online.

Legionaere TV has a history of broadcasting events on the internet, and they do a fine job of it. Now not only those in Bonn, but those around the world will be able to watch as well. This is huge since many of the players elected to the game come from outside of Germany.

The home run derby starts at 12:30 pm local time (6:30 am EST) with the game following that up at 2:00 pm (8:00 am EST).

A week after sweeping Mainz and tying for the South Division lead, the Buchbinder Legionaere have taken the lead after another weekend sweep. While the Legionaere were sweeping the last place Tubingen Hawks, Mainz was busy splitting a series with the Bad Homburg Hornets.

Christian Decher pitched Mainz to victory in Game 1 of the weekend series with the Hornets. Tossing a complete game, Decher allowed just two runs on seven hits while striking out ten.

The game was tied 2-2 heading into the last inning when Mainz came through with three unearned runs as Bad Homburg fell apart defensively in the ninth inning.

Offensively Julius Spann went 3-for-4 with a double. Maximilian Bolt had a nice day as well. He went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, stolen base, two runs scored, and a RBI.

Game 2 had another late inning comeback, but this time it was Bad Homburg.

Heading into the eighth inning Mainz was leading 6-4. Then Bad Homburg exploded for seven runs to take the lead for good. The big hit came on a two-run double by Rogelio Maldonado (1-for-4/3 RBI) giving the Hornets an 8-6 lead.

Fabian Fermin Hernandez (1-for-4) homered to tie the game at three in the sixth inning. Spenser Payne had a nice day at the plate for the Hornets as well going 3-for-5 and scoring two runs from the lead-off spot. He doubled twice and worked a walk. Also helping out was Benedict Ullrich who went 3-for-4 with two RBI.

For Mainz, Julius Spann homered and doubled going 2-for-4 in the loss.

The loss took Mainz out of a tie for first and left them in a tie for second with Heidenheim.

In other North Division action:

Simon Guhring had a huge game in Game 1 for Heidenheim. He went 4-for-6, scored three runs, drove in six, doubled twice, and hit a grand slam in the first inning.

Several players had huge games for Heidenheim in Game 1 as they scored 20 runs including Alexander Lauterbach (2-for-3/4 RBI), James McOwen (3-for-6/3 runs), Robert Gruber (3-for-5/3 runs/2 RBI), and Jay Pecci (2-for-4/2 doubles).

Michael Durham had a big day for Mannheim in Game 1 going 4-for-4 with 3 RBI and a home run.

Matthew Kemp pitched well for Mannheim in Game 2, but didn’t factor into the decision. He pitched eight innings giving up two hits and one run.

James Kang (1-for-5) homered for Heidenheim in Game 2.

Gavin Ng went 5-for-5 scoring three runs for the Stuttgart Reds in a Game 1 over Haar. He doubled and stole two bases.

Richard Olson tossed eight shutout innings giving up just four hits earning the win for Stuttgart in Game 2. He struck out 12.

Chris Beck had a nice day at the plate in Game 2 for Stuttgart. He went 3-for-4, scored three runs, doubled, and drove in two.

Matthew Vance went 2-for-4 with four runs scored, a stolen base, and a solo home run in Game 1 for the Legionaere.

Ludwig Glaser went 2-for-5, scored three runs, and drove in three more for the Legionaere in a Game 1 win.

Richard Klijn had a nice Game 2 for the Legionaere. He went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI.

The top two teams in the North Division met this past weekend giving Bonn a chance to take the lead over Solingen. It looked like that might be the case after shutting out the division leading Alligators in Game 1. But when everything was said and done, the top of the standings remained the same with Solingen having a one game lead over Bonn.

Maurice Wilhelm pitched Bonn to a tie in the standings after Game 1. Wilhelm was brilliant against the division leaders tossing a complete game shutout. He allowed just four hits and struck out seven.

He got some offensive support from Daniel Lamb-Hunt who had a great game at the plate going 4-for-5 including a double and a solo home run. Bradley Roper-Hubbert pitched in with a couple hits going 2-for-4 with a RBI.

Game 2 saw anther great pitching performance, but this time it was from the Solingen Alligators. Nick Renault tossed a complete game one-hitter. He didn’t give up a run and struck out 14 to give Solingen the win and the division lead once again.

Dominik Wulf drove in a pair of runs going 2-for-4 to help the Alligators offensively.

In other North Division action:

Dennis Stechmann tossed a one-hit shutout striking out six in a win for the Dortmund Wanderers.

Daniel Groer had a nice day for Dortmund. He went 2-for-4 in both games and drove in five runs in the first game.

Roy Wesche went 3-for-5 in Game 1 for Dortmund. He scored twice and stole one base.

Brent Buffa pitched a solid game for the HSV Stealers in Game 1 of the weekend series. He tossed a complete game, allowed one run, and struck out 12.

Eric Krzysiak homered and went 2-for-4 in Game 1 for the Stealers. He also doubled and drove in three runs.

Dominic Milo helped power the Dohren Wild Farmers to victory in Game 2. The All-Star homered going 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, and four RBI.